U.S. government documents contradict the Conservatives’ insistence they knew nothing about a Khadr plea bargain.

Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Nov. 1, 2010.

By:Richard J. BrennanOttawa Bureau, Published on Mon Nov 01 2010

OTTAWA— The Harper government will bring Toronto-born Omar Khadr back to Canada after all to serve the remainder of his eight-year sentence after he spends a year in a U.S. jail.

The dramatic turnaround for the federal government comes as critics accuse the Conservatives of misleading Canadians for years about their role in negotiations with the U.S. for the 24-year-old’s return.

“Our friend and closest ally, the American government, agreed that Omar Khadr return to Canada and we will implement the agreement between Mr. Khadr and the U.S. government,” Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon told the House of Commons Monday.

Cannon was answering a question from NDP MP Wayne Marston (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek), who reminded the minister that the House of Commons and the Supreme Court of Canada both agreed Khadr should be brought to Canada to face justice.

“Canada has been the only country to accept the Guantanamo process and that fell far short of Canadian, U.S. and international legal and human rights standards. There is no justice in Guantanamo,” Marston told MPs.

Khadr was sentenced Sunday to 40 years in prison for war crimes, but the plea agreement — of which the military jury was unaware — had capped the sentence at eight years.

A newly released U.S. State Department memorandum reveals the Conservatives were aware of the convicted terrorist’s plea deal, contradicting past denials by the government.

Those denials have come for the most part from Cannon, who as recently as last week told reporters that “the government of Canada is not involved in that.”

“We now know that is not true,” Liberal MP Dan McTeague told the Toronto Star.

The U.S. State Department memo shows that Canada and the United States exchanged two diplomatic notes on Oct. 23, two days before Khadr pleaded guilty to five criminal charges, including the murder of U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during a battle in Afghanistan in July 2002.

The Canadian Embassy in Washington said in a memo dated Oct. 23 the Canadian government “is inclined to favourably consider” a request for a transfer to Canada for Khadr after he serves one more year in Guantanamo.

Cannon continued to insist in the House of Commons Monday that Canada played no role in the plea bargain,

“The government of Canada was not part of the plea negotiations,” he said.

Liberal MP Raymonde Folco accused Cannon of being incapable of telling the truth even in the face of the diplomatic exchanges, adding that without the assurance of a favourable view on a transfer there would have been no deal.

“That proves that the government and the minister of foreign affairs were indeed involved. Why is this Conservative incapable of telling the truth?” she said.

The oppositions kept the heat on, knowing that for months the Conservatives have said inside and outside the Commons that they were not negotiating with the U.S. with respect to repatriating Khadr or anything else.

“Now we know obviously they were talking to the United States’ government all of the time. What did this government continue to mislead Canadians, the media and the House of Commons?” Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh (Vancouver South) asked during question period.

Dosanjh said it has been easy for the Conservative to demonize Khadr all these years.

“Khadr’s rights have been violated. Whether I like the guy or not, that’s not the issue. Canadians have a right under the Charter of Rights under our Constitution. You could be the most vile person on earth but if you are a Canadian citizen you have certain rights and one of those rights is to be able to come back to this country . . . ,” he told reporters.

“His story doesn’t hold because if there is this one-year deal for him to spend in Guantanamo and the rest in Canada, I imagine that the U.S. and Khadr wanted to be sure that Canada would also play in this movie. So, they must have talked about it or they take for granted that the U.S. decides and Canada follows suit,” he told reporters.

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